Vibrant Lives at Spark! Festival

Vibrant Lives will be premiering three unique, interactive sculptures at the Spark! Mesa Festival of Creativity, in Mesa, AZ March 18 – 19, 2016 (12pm – 10pm). Our sculptures were constructed in partnership with local sculptor, Bobby Zokaites, and are designed to give festival-goers a sense of their real-time “data shed.” We will also be holding improvisatory performances both nights of the festival.
The sculptures use festival-goers’ mobile phone data to produce touch-based (haptic) feedback. Infrasonic subwoofers are placed within the sculptures, which produce vibration feedback based on the aggregated volume of data being shared from festival-goer’s mobile devices. Intended to be highly interactive, festival attendees are encouraged to sit, lay and even climb on each of the structures. Building off of the collaborative team’s ongoing research, the sculptures bring awareness to the massive amounts of data we shed from our personal devices.

Digital prototype

Artist Bobby Zokaites with sculpture in progress

Spark! Festival is a free, family friendly festival that engages attendees in interactive artworks that ignite imagination. Celebrating its 5th year anniversary, the festival is produced by Mesa Arts Center (MAC), hosting events throughout its outdoor campus. Located on the north side of campus, our sculptures will be open to the public throughout the festival. Performances will occur 7 – 8pm both Friday and Saturday. The Vibrant Lives sculptures will be one of the first interactive installations attendees will see as they step off of the light rail.

Hosted installations at Spark! are by both local and national artists, though (MAC) has been making a concerted effort to increase the number of local artists it supports through the festival. The theme of this year’s festival is “Sights and Sounds,” though Vibrant Lives will ironically be presenting a work that engages festivalgoers through haptic (touch-based) feedback. During the festival, Mesa Arts Center sees about 10,000 attendees each day, making the festival one of the largest art/technology community events in the Valley. Attendees come from all across the Metro Phoenix, and festival attendance is expected to be higher this year due to the recent completion of the light rail line into downtown Mesa.